PALM TREE SYNDROME

PALM TREE SYNDROME: Colonial Installation: Plant Me, Please (Mixed-media drawing, May 2010, Private collection)

The piece has many layers, and it is inspired by my knowledge of the literary work of the great cultural icon Kamau Brathwaite. The puzzle pieces and sections are a reflection of his many articles, and the concept explored is an abstracted linkage to his renditions.

This title speaks to the exclusion of certain visual art forms, specifically installation art, in Barbados due to the high value bestowed upon picturesque artwork.  This national preference for the picturesque is not unique to the Anglophone Caribbean. However, if the picturesque subject has more meaning in the Barbadian space, this is due in part to the way we see art as a means to promote tourism.  The tourist market contributes to this problem by codifying the visual arts and thus cultivating imagined notions of the island. In some instances, I call this issue Palm Tree Syndrome, suggesting that these problems have become a disease which is submerged within the subconscious.

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Barbadian Gail Pounder-Speede is a professional artist and creative educator.  Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She is currently working on another solo show called Alphabet Series.